Display basket



J. 24, 1939. J. DOIG DISPLAY BASKET Filed April 5, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 4707365 Dog, 7

bodiment Patented Jan. 24, 1939 iiNlTED STATES PATENT OFFIQE DISPLAY BASKET poration of New York Application April 5, 1937, Serial No. 135,071

Claims.

The object of this invention is to provide a display basket of the type used on counters for the purpose of holding a number of cans, jars, boxes or other commodities, packaged or unpackaged, in irregular easily observed more or less random stacking, which method of displaying merchandise is being looked upon with increasing favor.

Display baskets used for this purpose must be of strong and rigid construction in order to support the weight of the contents without sagging, bulging or collapsing. The baskets which have heretofore been found satisfactory for this purpose have been constructed of such heavy materials and have been so elaborately reinforced as to make their cost almost prohibitive, while lighter weight cardboard baskets of sufficiently cheap construction have lacked the requisite strength and rigidity.

The improved display basket which forms the subject matter of this invention embodies certain unique features of construction which provide inherent strength and rigidity. The new basket is simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture and capable of being easily and quickly set up. The construction and relative arrangement of the few parts entering into the formation of the basket permits the use of an ordinary light weight cardboard and assures, with reasonable care in handling, a long period of satisfactory service. The basket presents a pleasing appearance, and is unusually stable. Its construction, furthermore, is conducive to manufacture in varying merchandise capacity sizes without requiring any change in the back of the basket, the variation being effected merely by increasing or decreasing the length of the sides of the U-shaped front.

The structure lends itself to economy of space in shipment and storage, being readily reduced to knock-down flatcondition.

While the foregoing statements are indicative in a general way of the nature of the invention, other more specific objects and advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon a full understanding of the construction and relative arrangement of the basket parts, such as will be readily obtained from the accompanying drawings and from the following written description predicated thereon, setting forth a preferred emof the invention obvious variations from the particular embodiment being well within the scope of the inventon.

In the drawings Fig. l is a front plan View of the basket parts, in flat knock-down condition;

Fig. 2 is a rear plan View of the same;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the basket, in set up form;

Fig. 4 is a rear view of the basket;

Fig. 5 is a top view of the same;

Fig. 6 is a vertical section, taken on the line 6-% of Fig. 5; and

Fig. '7 is another vertical section, taken on the line i-'l of Fig. 5.

As will be observed in the drawings, the basket is made entirely of cardboard and is characterized by an upstanding back It and a U-shaped front body H, which body is of inverted V-shape cross section so as to slope both inwardly and outwardly and has the rear edges of the inner and outer walls 12 and 13 of its sides secured to the back. The basket also preferably includes a bottom Hi shaped to fit Wedgingly within the inwardly sloping inner wall l2 of the front in slightly spaced. relation to the lower edge of the inner wall. This bottom I4 is hinged to the lower edge of the back l0, either as an integral extension of the latter or as an extension of a stiffener I5 which may be fastened to the rear surface of the back. A brace I 8 is preferably mounted on the rear surface of the back H), to prevent any lateral curling of the upper portion of the latter, and this brace can advantageously be made as an integral part of the stiffener I5 in the event such a stiffener is employed.

It will be observed that the walls I2, l3 of the basket have inherent stability and strength, being inclined outwardly from their upper junction to present awide base, and are reinforced as to strength by the strut effect of the bottom member 54 spanning the space between the lower portion of the inner wall, while the back of the basket isstiffened against bulging by the brace 16.

It will be evident also that the structural features of the device are such as to facilitate ready assembly and disassembly and that the structural elements are of the simplest type and inexpensive material, thus ccnducing to low cost of manufacture.

The fashioning of the elements and their assembly will now be described with reference particularly to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings.

From a sheet of cardboard or similar material, a blank for the body element H is stamped or otherwise cut to define its ends by inclined lines a and b projected radially from a common center and its sides by concentrically curved lines 0 and d unequally spaced from the same center. Intermediate the sides 6 and d the blank is cut scored along the curved line e and preferably, though not essentially, the blank is crease-scored along radial lines 1 between the edge e and line e. The end a carries a hook or locking tongue 9 and a flange h and is crease-scored at 1', while the end 12 carries a tab 7' and a flange k and is creasescored at Z. It is noted that the crease-scores i and 1 form a continuation of the cut-score e. The flanges h and k and the tab 7' are defined as to their line of juncture with the body by cutscored lines h, k and crease-scored line :i'. The body blank is apertured at m to provide a keeper opening for the tongue u.

The blank for the back I0 is defined at its base by the line 11, the sides by upwardly converging lines 0 and the top by circular line p or otherwise to produce any desired configuration. This head blank has punched therein slots q connected by slits 1- and is provided with a keeper opening s.

The blank for the bottom l4 may be formed as an integral part of the back, extending from the base line 11. thereof as a tab or, asshown, it may form an extension of a stiffener blank i5 secured to the rear face of the back ID. The bottom l4 has lateral flaps t joined thereto at the crease-scored lines it, and a locking tongue 2) for engagement within the aperture 122 of the body blank.

The stiffener l5 has a brace portion l5a joined thereto along the cut-scored line w enabling it to be turned at a right angle to the back Ill, while the material of the stiffener and brace is out along the irregular line at to form a locking tongue y on the stiffener l5 and a keeper slot 2 in the brace l5a. The body blank II, the back blank I0 and the stiffener blank l5 are permanently secured together by stitching, stapling as shown, or in any other approved manner.

The procedure by which the flat assembly is erected to form the complete display basket is readily comprehended and executed. The body element is bent along the cut-scored line e and the crease-scored extensions 2' and Z of said line e to produce a U-shaped container with side walls [2 and I3 of inverted V-shape in cross section. One end of the U-shaped container has its outer wall attached to the back element by the sta pling of its tab 7' and its inner wall by interlocking its flange k within the slots q, while the other end of the outer Wall engages by the hook tongue g within the keeper slot 3 and the inner wall flange h interlocks within the companion slots q. The bottom element 14, whether an integral extension of the back element I!) or of the stiffener element I5 is bent along the line n and pressed downward within the U-shaped basket or body portion into wedging engagement with the inner walls l2, the flaps i being thereby bent upwardly at an angle to the bottom l4 and thus strongly reinforcing the same.

It will be noted that the capacity of the display basket may be varied in the blanking out of the part ll merely by lengthening the blank. This is made possible by the relation of the curvilinear sides to the length. By reference to Fig. 1 it will be seen that the portions of the blank from the extreme radial scores 1 to the ends of the blank bounded inwardly by the side edges 0 are substantially straight and parallel. This permits of extending such portions at will and thus increasing the size of the basket front to rear. Obviously the size of the basket latererally may also be increased by striking the lines 0 and d at a greater or less distance from their common center.

As will appear by reference to Fig. 3 the external appearance of the outer wall l3 of the basket is that of a truncated cone which is surmounded by the fiat expanse of the back III. This forwardly convex upwardly inclined surface l3 lends itself admirably to advertisement of the product on display as contrasted with the usual display receptacle having downwardly inclined sloping walls, any advertising on which is shadowed by the overhanging upper portion of the wall, or even a cylindrical front wall, in which case the surface of such wall and the advertising matter thereon is disposed at an angle to the line of sight if the device be setting upon a counter or the like. Here advertising matter on the front face of the wall I3 is presented to the eye direct when viewedfrom the usual position slightly above the basket, giving also a view of the products Within the basket.

I claim:

1. A display device comprising a head blank provided adjacent its base line with keeper openings, a bottom element projecting from the base of the head blank and carrying a terminal locking tongue, and a basket body blank having ends and sides bounded respectively by radial and by concentric curved lines and carrying at one end a locking tongue and bendable flange and at the -er end a bendable tab and flange, the junction of the tab and flanges with the body blank defined by scored lines, the body blank also provided adjacent the middle of its shorter curved edge with a keeper opening and scored along a medial curved line concentric with the curved sides of the blank, the body blank permanently secured by its tab to the head blank and bent along the medial scored line into a U-shaped basket element of inverted V-section, with the inner wall detachably connected to the head element by engagement of its flanges in the keeper slots and the free end of the outer wall detachably connected to the head element by engagement of its tongue within another keeper opening and the other end of the outer wall permanently attached to the head element by its tab, the bottom element seated within the U-shaped basket element in wedging engagement with the inner walls thereof and its tongue engaged within the keeper opening of the inner wall.

2. A cardboard display device comprising a head blank provided adjacent its base line with spaced upwardly divergent keeper slots and adjacent a lower edge thereof with a keeper opening, a bottom element projecting from the base of the head blank and carrying side flaps and a terminal locking tongue, the junction line of the side flaps with the bottom element crease-scored, and a basket body blank having ends and sides bounded respectively by radial and by concentric curved lines and carrying at one end a locking tongue and bendable flange and at the other end a bendable tab and flange, the junction line of the tab and flanges with the body of the blank defined by crease-scored lines, the body blank also provided adjacent the middle of its shorter curved edge with a keeper opening and cut-scored along a median curved line concentric to the curved side of the blank, the body blank permanently secured by its tab to the head blank and bent along the median scored line into a U-shaped basket body element of inverted V section with the inner walls detachably connected to the head element by engagement of its flanges in the keeper slots and the free end of the outer wall detachably connected to the head element by the engagement of its tongue within the keeper opening of the head element and the other end of the outer wall permanently attached to the head element by its tab, the bottom element seated within the U-shaped basket element in wedging engagement with the inner walls thereof, its tongue engaged within the keeper opening of the inner wall and with its side flaps into bent engagement with said inner wall.

3. A display device consisting of a single wall "upstanding cardboard back element and a U- shaped carboard basket body portion having inner and outer walls of inverted V section, said walls secured at their rear ends to the back, the inner wall detachably and the outer wall permanently, a stiffener element attached to the rear face of the back and extending angularly from the base thereof into the space within the basket portion and wedgingly engaging the inner wall thereof, the upper margin of the stiffener element also angularly bent rearwardly to provide lateral bracing for the back and locked in such bracing position.

4. A display device comprising a head blank provided adjacent its base line with keeper openings, a bottom element projecting from the base of the head blank and carrying a terminal locking tongue, and a basket body blank having ends and sides bounded respectively by radial and by concentric curved lines and carrying at one end a locking tongue and bendable flange and at the other end a bendable tab and flange, the junction of the tab and flanges with the body blank deflned by scored lines, the body blank also provided adjacent the middle of its shorter curved edge with a keeper opening and scored along a medial curved line concentric with the curved sides of the blank, said body blank radially scored at spaced intervals between the shorter curved side and the medial line of scoring, the body blank permanently secured by its tab to the head blank and bent along the medial scored line into a U- shaped basket element of inverted V-section, with the inner wall detachably connected to the head element by engagement of its flanges in the keeper slots and the free end of the outer wall detachably connected to the head element by engagement of its tongue within another keeper opening and the other end of the outer wall permanently attached to the head element by its tab, the bottom element seated within the U-shaped basket element in wedging engagement with the inner walls thereof and its tongue engaged with in the keeper opening of the inner wall.

5. A cardboard display device comprising a head blank provided adjacent its base line with spaced upwardly divergent keeper slots and adjacent a lower edge thereof with a keeper opening, a bottom element projecting from the base of the head blank and carrying side flaps and a terminal locking tongue, the junction line of the side flaps Wth the bottom element crease-scored, and a basket body blank having ends and sides bounded respectively by radial and by concentric curved lines and carrying at one end a locking tongue and bendable flange and at the other end a bendable tab and flange, the junction line of the tab and flanges with the body of the blank defined by crease-scored and cut-scored lines, the body blank also provided adjacent the middle of its shorter curved edge with a keeper opening and cut-scored along a median curved line concentric to the curved side of the blank, said body blank also radially crease-scored at intervals with the lines of scoring extending between the shorter curved side and the median line of scoring, the body blank premanently secured by its tab to the head blank and bent along the median scored line into a U-shaped basket body element of inverted V section with the inner Walls detachably connected to the head element by engagement of its flanges in the keeper slots and the free end of the outer wall detachably connected to the head element by the engagement of its tongue wthin the keeper opening of the head element and the other end of the outer Wall permanently attached to the head element by its tab, the bottom element seated within the U-shaped basket element in wedging engagement with the inner walls thereof, its tongue engaged within the keeper openng of the inner wall and with its side flaps into bent engagement with said inner wall.

JAMES DOIG. 

